Sojourner's Song

“I have become a pilgrim to cure myself of being an exile.” -G. K. Chesterton


Aaron Telian

I'm a clumsy Christian on a journey of discipline and discovery with Jesus. As a recovering Pharisee, I'm learning to trust God's grace over my goodness. I love the world, and I'm excited about learning what it means to be salt and light in a Post-Christian culture. This is where I write about living the sojourn.


View My Profile

Blog Archive

  • ►  2009 (26)
    • ►  June (1)
    • ►  May (2)
    • ►  April (10)
    • ►  March (1)
    • ►  February (3)
    • ►  January (9)
  • ►  2008 (112)
    • ►  December (5)
    • ►  November (10)
    • ►  October (1)
    • ►  September (5)
    • ►  August (8)
    • ►  July (6)
    • ►  June (13)
    • ►  May (13)
    • ►  April (4)
    • ►  March (9)
    • ►  February (18)
    • ►  January (20)
  • ▼  2007 (121)
    • ►  December (8)
    • ►  November (12)
    • ►  October (10)
    • ►  September (8)
    • ►  August (8)
    • ►  July (12)
    • ►  June (11)
    • ►  May (11)
    • ►  April (10)
    • ►  March (14)
    • ▼  February (5)
      • The Evils Of Alcohol
      • Thinking About Writer's Block
      • Waiting for the Wheat
      • Just a Doorkeeper
      • A Grief Observed
    • ►  January (12)
  • ►  2006 (90)
    • ►  December (16)
    • ►  November (15)
    • ►  October (17)
    • ►  September (20)
    • ►  August (11)
    • ►  July (11)

What Susan Said

  • What Susan Said
    - Due to time limitations and lack of quote material, What Susan Said will be indefinitely discontinued. If you’ve enjoyed this blog, leave a comment and l...
    16 years ago

Blogroll

  • As The Deer
  • Bibliological Bibble-Babble
  • Cerulean Sanctum
  • Coffee Cup Apologetics
  • Free Believers Network
  • Greg Boyd
  • Internet Monk
  • Jesus Shaped Spirituality
  • Kingdom People
  • Letters From Kamp Krusty
  • MercatorNet
  • My One Thing
  • Reclaiming the Mission
  • Solomon's Porch Oakhurst
  • The God Journey
  • The Gospel-Driven Church
  • The Scribbles of a Sojourner
  • What Susan Said



Sponsor a Child in Jesus Name with Compassion
Save Children

Labels

  • Art
  • Blogging
  • Books
  • C. S. Lewis
  • Church + State
  • Church Life
  • Culture
  • Derek Webb
  • Economics
  • EduCore
  • Emerging Church
  • Family
  • Freestyle Piano
  • G. K. Chesterton
  • Happenings
  • Hiking
  • History
  • Holiness
  • Israel
  • Jesus
  • Language
  • Music
  • Nature
  • People
  • Photos
  • Poetry
  • Poverty
  • Prayer
  • Reading + Writing
  • Religion
  • Rich Mullins
  • Scraps
  • Scripture
  • Society + Government
  • Southwest Slalom
  • Spiritual Thoughts
  • Story
  • Technology
  • Travel
  • Yosemite

My Amazon.com Wish List
cash advance
Dell Computers
Free Counter
RSS Feed
Add to Technorati Favorites

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Waiting for the Wheat

So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;

And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.


For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.


But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.
- Mark 4:26-29

Too many of us treat the Kingdom as a commodity; something to be measured and manufactured. This mechanistic mindset seems to be a reflection of the industrialized thinking of the age, which has largely lost touch with soil and sawdust: those elemental substances that speak silently of darker, deeper things.

As the passage above intimates, in gentle rebuke, the Kingdom of God is not moving down some spiritual assembly-line. It is rooted firmly in the dirt - like the righteous man of Psalm 1 - like a tree. (See the immediately following parallel parable in Mark.)

A tree may very well be the ultimate expression of dynamic permanence. It is alive, yes; it is changing, yes; but mostly it is there.

You can not make a tree, or for that matter anything else that is organic and alive, out of parts; it must be nurtured and grown, and even then the process proceeds only as fast as the rain, sun and soil allow. So with the Kingdom of God. Quiet, hidden, unhurried, God's servants go about their daily business with a serene confidence in the gradual fulfillment of His work.

And it is work. The scriptural challenge is to embrace the waiting and the inevitability as truths, while simultaneously avoiding laziness and lethargy. Just because the harvest comes in its own good time does not mean there is nothing to do - on the contrary. I know of few labors more demanding than farming or orcharding; there is little luxury and much responsibility.

This whole perspective is diametrically opposed to the core ideology behind Reconstructionism and Dominion theology. These would-be redeemers of society, like modern-day zealots, seek to impose the Kingdom from the top down. The end is noble, but the means are sadly misguided. It has proved quite difficult to grow trees by hanging leaves in the air.

Rich Mullins understood: "New Jerusalem won't be as easy to build as I hoped it would be / As I hoped it would be easy to build / New Jerusalem won't be so easy to build / there's many bellies to fill and many hearts to free / Gotta set them free" The point is that the whole thing is more about freeing hearts and filling bellies than convincing minds and winning elections.

The church could use a few less politicians and a few more Johnny Mustardseed's.


Image courtesy of jointedgoatgrass.org
Posted by Aaron at 4:16 PM
Labels: Church + State, Rich Mullins, Society + Government, Spiritual Thoughts

1 comment:

Jonathan Marshall said...

There's absolutely nothing to say to that except "Amen Brother"!

5:41 PM

Post a Comment

Newer Post Older Post Home
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

The Fine Print...

All material on this blog remains my intellectual property. You are free to quote and disseminate any and all of it, but please use proper blogging etiquette, credit (link back to) the source, and make an effort to keep potentially controversial ideas in context. Thanks for reading.

Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. - 2 Cor. 13:11